Ewan McGregor Reveals The Big First He Got To Experience On Obi-Wan Kenobi
Contains spoilers for the first two parts of "Obi-Wan Kenobi"
May 27, 2022, will forever stand as a landmark day in the history of the "Star Wars" fandom. That day saw the arrival of the first two episodes of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" on Disney+, bringing with it the return of Ewan McGregor as the titular Jedi Master. Set 10 years after the events of "Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith," promotional material promised viewers a look at what Kenobi and Darth Vader (Hayden Christiansen) were up to in the years between their Mustafar and Death Star duels. So far, it has yet to leave fans disappointed.
After spending years alone in the desert of Tatooine, Ben Kenobi is called back into action by an old friend: Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits). His daughter, Princess Leia Organa (Vivien Lyra Blair), is captured by mercenaries, and Kenobi is his only hope of getting her back. Despite his mandate to protect her brother Luke (Grant Feely) and the looming shadow of the Galactic Empire, he departs the sand planet to rescue her. As one could imagine, his mission to the planet Daiyu didn't exactly go as planned for a variety of reasons.
As a result of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" and its story, Ewan McGregor has experienced an exciting first during his time in the "Star Wars" galaxy.
McGregor finally got to share the screen with real Imperial Stormtroopers
During an interview with BBC Radio 1, Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christiansen talked all things "Obi-Wan Kenobi," with the former mentioning something astounding about his experience shooting the miniseries. "I suddenly realized I've never actually seen, I've never actually acted with a Stormtrooper before...that was kind of a special moment, too," McGregor said, noting that the Republic clone troopers present throughout the second and third "Star Wars" prequels were all CGI renders, so even in those films he never got the chance to act alongside real, armored galactic infantry.
With the Empire at the height of its power during "Obi-Wan Kenobi," the galaxy is crawling with Stormtroopers. As we know from "Star Wars: The Bad Batch," it didn't take long for the Empire to phase out clones, hence why they're a far less common sight by the time of the Galactic Civil War. Still, it's not as if they all just disappeared, as evidenced by the one we see in the second episode of "Obi-Wan Kenobi." While wandering the streets of Daiyu, Kenobi happens upon a former member of Anakin Skywalker's 501st Legion — played by Boba Fett himself, Temuera Morrison — who has fallen on hard times (via Digital Spy).
According to Ewan McGregor, working alongside Stormtroopers was something truly special, and by the sound of it, he's pretty thankful they weren't entirely computer-generated.